There is overwhelming scientific agreement that human activities are changing the global climate system and that these changes are already affecting human and natural systems.

The Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review (ELPAR) is published by the Environmental Law Institute’s (ELI’s) Environmental Law Reporter in partnership with Vanderbilt University Law School. This Comment highlights the results of the ELPAR article selection process and reports on the environmental legal scholarship for the 2019-2020 academic year, including the number of environmental law articles published in general law reviews versus environmental law journals, and the topics covered in the articles.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has embarked on an effort to implement a long-dormant provision of the Federal Power Act, §319, which could lead to broader participation by diverse and underresourced constituencies in Commission matters. This Article traces §319’s history and discusses several implementation choices that will affect what types of participation the Commission facilitates.

Climate change is projected to have catastrophic impacts on the hydrological cycle. Responding to its projected adverse impacts requires building flexibility and adaptability into watercourse treaties. Exploring the treaty practices of other shared watercourses, this Article studies the context of the Nile Basin, and concludes that the legal regime governing the Basin lacks the flexibility needed to adapt to climate change.

Demand for generic pharmaceuticals has resulted in China and India becoming the largest producers of these products in the world. Pollution from pharmaceutical manufacturing in both of these countries is a recognized environmental and public health problem, and the release of residual antibiotics is a contributor to antimicrobial resistance, which is projected to result in 10 million deaths per year by 2050 unless significant action is taken.

The Endangered Species Act provides for the designation as “critical habitat” of habitat deemed “essential” for conservation of listed species. To understand the incentive effects of critical habitat designations, this Article examines the designation for the dusky gopher frog, which included private land unoccupied by the frog and which reached the U.S. Supreme Court. It argues that critical habitat designations can penalize landowners for conserving habitat features, thereby disincentivizing habitat maintenance and restoration.

This Comment responds to a comment by Karrigan Börk et al. published in the September issue that critiqued a biological opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) under §7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that analyzes the effects of ongoing operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project on the Delta smelt.

When food waste decomposes, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas with at least 25 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide. Municipalities and organizations are beginning to prioritize diverting food waste from landfills by preventing waste, rerouting edible food to food-insecure households, or recycling waste through composting, animal feeding operations, or anaerobic digestion (AD), a process in which microorganisms break down organic material and create biogas and digestate.

For over a year, the COVID-19 pandemic and concerns about systemic racial injustice have highlighted the conflicts and opportunities currently faced by environmental law. Scientists uniformly predict that environmental degradation, notably climate change, will cause a rise in diseases, disproportionate suffering among communities already facing discrimination, and significant economic losses. In this Article, members of the Environmental Law Collaborative examine the legal system’s responses to these crises, with the goal of framing opportunities to reimagine environmental law.

Although some species fall solely within the jurisdiction of one country, it is common for species to fall outside of one state’s exclusive control. The United States protects endangered species in its territory and in international waters through the Endangered Species Act (ESA). But the extent of U.S. jurisdiction under the ESA is largely untested, and endangered species policy interacts with international law. This Article clarifies the protections of the ESA in U.S. jurisdiction and maritime regimes.